This invention relates to an ultrasonic medical system. More particularly, this invention relates to a medical system which determines three-dimensional shapes of internal organs by using ultrasonic pressure waves. This invention also relates to a method useful in medical diagnosis and treatment.
In recent years, the escalation of medical costs has captured substantial media and regulatory attention. One reason for the escalating costs is the ever increasing use of expensive machines and testing techniques. Computed assisted tomography (CAT scanning), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and some radiological techniques have been in the forefront of contributing to mounting medical costs. In addition to being expensive, these devices are heavy and bulky, making them ill suited to transport.
One type of medical scanning device which is less expensive to manufacture, use, and maintain than CAT scanners and MRI scanners is an ultrasonic scanner. Ultrasound is commonly used in monitoring the development of fetuses in utero. Disadvantages of ultrasound are chiefly derived from the low quality of the images produced. These images are not optical quality images and require substantial training to interpret. Even personnel of substantial experience can misread an ultrasound image, with the erroneous or inaccurate results leading to patient trauma and worse.
In conventional ultrasound scanners, image information is entered into long-term memory only at the specific command of the operator. Upon seeing an image on a video monitor which provides apparently useful information, the operator actuates an input device which induces storage of the image displayed at that instant on the video monitor.